Tag Archives: bodhicitta

Please Don’t Wait to Practice – 37 Practices – Session 10

Our resident teacher, Acharya Lhakpa Tshering, began our session by guiding our meditation practice once again. He offered some brief instructions, starting with giving rise to the enlightened intention: “Whatever positive outcome we may get from this practice, may it be the seed of enlightenment for myself and all sentient beings.” Together with a comfortable posture of body, the most important point is to meditate with a simple awareness of the present moment, without any pressure. Not being able to relax would otherwise turn into an obstacle. “So, relax,” he said.“Just be simply aware.” 

Post-Meditation: Dealing with the World

The verse Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen taught last week, verse eleven, focused on the practice of Tonglen (giving and taking) from within meditative equipoise (a deep state of concentration). The next ten verses are about post-meditation practice or subsequent attainment, starting with verse twelve: 

“Even if someone, out of intense desire, steals all my wealth,
Or makes another do so,
To dedicate my body, possessions, and all virtue of the three times
To them is the practice of a bodhisattva.” 

(Quoted from A Guide to the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, translated by Christopher Stagg) 

Post-meditation practice starts the moment we rise from meditative practice and deal with the real world: our jobs, family, friends, or work for our center. The practice pointed out here by Ngulchu Tokmé is that of taking loss onto the path. 

Bringing Enlightenment Closer Through Dedication

The first two lines, Acharya Lhakpa commented, have a very deep meaning. While the verse speaks about the person who steals our wealth as the one having great desire, this is something that applies to all of us. Perhaps the degree differs, but we all have some kind of desire and continuously try to accumulate things for ourselves. 

As a consequence, if someone steals what we have accumulated, we typically react with anger and seek revenge. When we do so, Acharya pointed out, we are no different from the person who stole our wealth. “That will not make us a bodhisattva,” he said.

What bodhisattvas do, in contrast, is to dedicate everything they have to this person–their body, wealth, and all merit–and wish that negative karma does not come to fruition for him/her/them. Instead, we wish this person to be free of suffering. “If we are able to dedicate in this way, it will bring our full enlightenment closer to us,” Acharya said. 

Making Dedication Meaningful

The questions you may have, Acharya Lhakpa said, are: “Why should I be kind instead of punishing this person? Why should I give my body, possessions, and virtues I have accumulated?” What we need to do, he continued, is to change our mindset. We can do so in two ways. 

One way of thinking is how all beings have either served us in some way or another in previous lives (since we have been in samsara from beginningless time) or that we perhaps stole from this person. Another way of thinking is that this person actually has no freedom or autonomy because of being under the influence or compelled by the afflictive emotion of desire. It is like the example given by Śāntideva in The Way of the Bodhisattva: if someone hits us with a stick, we will be angry with the person. But the person (or thief) here is like the stick. The intense desire (or the mental affliction) is the one controlling the action; the person/thief has no autonomy, as he is overpowered by the intense desire. 

In one way or another, it shows how it makes no sense to be angry at this person and, instead, be kind and dedicate all we have to them. It is important to do that with one of these views in mind. If we would merely think, “I will give this to you,” then our dedication has little meaning. 

Letting Go

In a previous verse, Acharya Lhakpa reminded us, Ngulchu Tokmé already taught that we cannot take anyone or anything with us at the time of death, including our own body, which we so dearly cherish. Therefore, a bodhisattva lets go of this life; but what about the virtue we accumulate? 

As a beginning dharma practitioner, we speak about accumulating merit as a method to generate interest and a joyful mind towards practicing the dharma—just like we play games and introduce all kinds of arts to children to educate them. In this way, we think we will be getting something. This makes use of our very strong habit of wishing to accumulate things. 

“However,” our resident teacher taught, “when we practice dharma, there is nothing to accumulate. We have to let go as much as we can. Doing so, we will realize emptiness and attain enlightenment.” There really is nothing collecting nor something to be collected. So, we let go and dedicate everything to other beings. 

Practicing Right Now

To conclude, what is the main practice pointed out by Ngulchu Tokmé in this verse? Is it about the person who is stealing all our wealth and possessions? “No,” Acharya Lhakpa said. 

“The main thought and practice pointed out is about us holding on, cherishing and being attached to our body, possessions, and all virtue of the three times. It is this that we need to let go of. If we can’t let go of that, it will turn into an obstacle for obtaining the state of buddhahood.” 

“Furthermore,” Acharya Lhakpa added, “we should not wait until someone with intense desire comes and steals our wealth. We should practice letting go of our body, possessions, and virtue now.” While practicing fully and directly, truly giving these away to others, may be very difficult; what we can do right now, without a thief coming along, is to reduce our attachment and decrease our holding onto things. “Please, don’t wait till someone comes and forcefully pushes you to practice. We should engage in the practice right now,” concluded Acharya Lhakpa.

Following those words, we ended our session by dedicating the merit.

Intermezzo: Cultivating an Altruistic Aspiration and Bodhicitta

Following our opening chants, we began the practice of śamatha (calm-abiding meditation). We can also think of this formal meditation practice as resting at ease or slowing down the mind. In addition, two key points were emphasized: having a beginner’s mind and our physical posture. 

Beginner’s Mind

Some might feel very familiar with śamatha practice, others feel it is very new to them, or for others as something in-between. What is important to remember is what is known from the Zen-tradition as “beginner’s mind.” 

While slowing down and taking a step back from the usual rhythm of our lives, which often just takes us along, we can bring curiosity and wonder towards Atiśa’s question that we asked ourselves during our last session: What is the state of my mind, right now, this very moment? 

Having a beginner’s mind also means we look at the movement and state of our mind without any judgment—without evaluating it as good or bad, positive or negative. As Acharya Lhakpa Tshering often instructs during our practice: “Be aware; simply be aware.”

Importance of the Posture of Body

Not so much as a precondition but as part of the practice of śamatha, we pay attention to our physical posture. That, by itself, helps to let the mind slow down and bring clarity. This way, we can see the state of our mind clearly and work with it. 

Therefore, we sit well-grounded and balanced, with our hands resting on our knees or in our lap. We straighten our spine, which in one way can be understood as making sure we are centered. Our shoulders are slightly pushed towards the back, opening our chest. We tuck in our chin, and our tongue slightly touches the upper palate. Relaxing the jaw, our mouth typically opens slightly. We relax our forehead and our eyes. Our gaze is resting in front of us without looking at a particular object. We gently notice the movement of our breath. 

In some traditions, it is taught that our physical posture is half of the work or even more than ninety percent. In any case, it is clear that paying attention to our physical posture is of great importance. 

Having established our physical posture, we can look again and ask: What is the state of my mind, right now, in this moment? 

Connecting with the Wisdom-Intent and Our Capability on the Path 

While remaining seated in our posture of body, we recited the homage, purposes of the composition, and first ten verses of Ngulchu Tokmé’s Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva. By doing so in this manner and by looking carefully at how the words impact us, we can connect deeply with the wisdom-intent. 

Before contemplating Verse 10, we briefly reviewed the two verses we contemplated the previous week.

  • Verse 8: This one focuses on the fact that all our actions of body, speech, and mind, are in a chain of cause and effect. As taught in the Sūtras by Buddha Śākyamuni, no karma is “wasted,” meaning that whatever action we perform will, sooner or later, have a result. Therefore, Ngulchu Tokmé teaches us with this verse to never commit any negative actions because, at some point, these will only lead to suffering. 
  • Verse 9: If we don’t commit negative actions of body, speech, and mind, but engage in virtuous activity, we will increasingly find ourselves in comfortable places, with wealth in both material and immaterial ways. In a worldly sense, we may feel happy and at ease. However, Ngulchu Tokmé points out in the ninth verse that none of these pleasurable states of being offer any lasting happiness. Rather, the things we enjoy are fleeting and very quickly fade away, like a “dewdrop on a blade of grass.” Therefore, we should strive for the supreme state of liberation to be fully free of pain, despair, and suffering — the state of samsara. 

These two verses, as explained by Acharya Lhakpa, show the lesser and middling types of being or capability, respectively. The tenth verse points to the highest capacity. We can also think of these in terms of potential. For most of us, if not all, we move between these three, depending on the day or week. Sometimes even within one day or a single formal meditation session. 

Making a Connection

Reminding us of the importance of our physical posture, we continued contemplating the three types of potential or capability, focusing on the highest one as expressed in the tenth verse of Ngulchu Tokmé’s Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, as translated by Christopher Stagg:

“From beginningless time, my mothers have loved me.
If they suffer, how can I worry about my own happiness?
Therefore, in order to liberate sentient beings, which are boundless, 
To engender bodhicitta is the practice of a bodhisattva.”

In his commentary on this verse, the twentieth-century master Dzatrul Ngawang Tenzin Norbu explains that recognizing all sentient beings as having been our mother gives us all the reasons to follow the example of past bodhisattvas by practicing in the same way for the benefit of others. Acharya Lhakpa further clarified that the notion of “mother” serves as an instruction to find a way to connect with every being without exception. This connection forms the basis upon which loving-kindness, compassion, and ultimately the resolve to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all (bodhicitta) can be cultivated.

Sevenfold Cause-And-Effect Instruction to Generate Bodhicitta

From the perspective of making a connection, we engage in a slightly adapted version of the sevenfold cause-and-effect instruction from the Kadampa tradition to engender or cultivate bodhicitta. In brief:

  1. Bring someone to mind who has been kind to you in this life and feels close to your heart. This could be your mother, father, brother, sister, relatives, a teacher, anyone. 
  2. Feeling the presence of this person, recollect or remember the kindness you received. 
  3. Realizing the kindness that person gave to you, connect with the feeling and intention to repay this kindness and offer something in return, material or immaterial. 
  4. Having the wish to repay the kindness of him/her/they, give rise to the thought: “How wonderful would it be if this person knew nothing but peace and joy in life.” Gently smile and imagine their life to be so. Free of any hardship. This is the quality of loving-kindness. 
  5. Remember a time when things were not easy for this person or visualize the possibility of such a moment or period. Give rise to the thought: “Oh no, what can I do to help?” We feel the urgency and think: “May this suffering be dispelled. May this person be completely free of this hardship.” This is the quality of compassion. 
  6. Realizing that, like this person, everyone — every creature we know or don’t know, seen or not seen, maybe different in appearance but equal at this fundamental level — wishes nothing but happiness and does everything they can to avoid suffering; and by seeing this equality, we give rise to the thought: “I will do whatever I possibly can to remove the suffering of beings and bring all of them to a place for genuine freedom and happiness.” This could be called the quality of the highest resolve or altruistic aspiration.
  7. With each single step being the cause for the next, all six together are taught to become the cause for the highest result or effect of the sevenfold instruction: bodhicitta.

This powerful meditation practice aims to cultivate genuine compassion and engender the heart of awakening as Ngulchu Tokmé instructs in the tenth verse. 

In this way, we deepened our connection to these three kinds of capabilities and the ways to contemplate them as support for our practice. Having expressed gratitude to everyone for joining today’s practice, we concluded with the dedication of merit and wish to cultivate this highest resolve that is the basis for bodhicitta and the practice of a bodhisattva as taught from verse 11 onwards. 

Intermezzo: Embracing Genuine Dharma Practice: Observing and Directing the Mind

Following our opening chants, we began our śamatha practice by establishing a firmly grounded yet balanced posture. Everyone was invited to look at the movement of  mind, which might be drawn to thinking about activities before our session or pulled towards what might follow. Without any judgement, we can practice śamatha through simply seeing this movement. In case the mind is attracted to any present sensory input such as sound, smell, memory, feeling, or something else, we simply notice it. In this way, along with being in touch with our body, we turn inward and observe the movement of mind. 

Once the mind starts to rest, we then can direct  its movement by giving rise to the thought of awakening. We connect with that intention, thinking: “May the stream of this mind be oriented towards buddhahood, towards awakening, for the sake of all other beings, without exception.” Sitting together is part of putting this into practice. 

Contemplative Meditation: When do We Practice?

One of the key functions of śamatha practice is to create a space for contemplating, allowing us to look deeper into the movement of our mind and the life that flows from it (when we take illusory thoughts to be real). During our meditation, everyone was invited to lightly reflect on the question: In which moments during a day do I feel I am practicing the dharma? Are there moments when I feel I am on the heroic path of the bodhisattvas? 

All participants were asked to consider three aspects of practice: how we think about it (seeing), how we sense it emotionally (feeling), and how it interacts with our surroundings (living). We ended our contemplative meditation by asking ourselves if any insight stood out, and then simply let go, and sat  at ease.  

After a brief conversation, we continued with commentary by and advice from His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, in Traveling the Path of Compassion, in which he put the question of practice at the heart of his teachings about the first verse: a precious human existence. 

Having the Freedom to Practice, Today

The first practice of a bodhisattva pointed out by Ngulchu Tokmé in this verse is that of hearing, contemplation, and meditation. His Holiness notes that we can think of the first as the desire to practice, the second as a way to gain certainty, and the third as the method to bring this into experience. He emphasises the importance of practicing now when we have the freedom to do so. 

Before our session started today, there was a brief informal conversation about wildfires, snowstorms, earthquakes, and similar natural circumstances. Along with a heart of compassion, wishing all affected to be safe and receive the support needed, the teachings also remind us there is no guarantee that our current conditions will remain supportive. What seems stable today might not be so tomorrow. Therefore, reminding us of Acharya Lhakpa’s commentary on this verse, we need to seize the opportunity to practice once it appears to us. 

Real Signs of Practice

His Holiness emphasizes the importance of understanding what genuine practice means by recognizing our freedom and sincerely wishing to practice,  To illustrate this, he recalls a story from the Kadampa tradition, the lineage to which our text, The Thirty-Seven Practices, belongs. During our session, the story was retold in detail, raising the question about the genuine practice of dharma. Below is a brief summary: 

There is a  person who is really determined to follow the dharma path and engages in practices like circumambulation (doing Korra), reading scriptures, and recitation. Each time he does so he encounters a Kadampa master, (most likely Atīśa’s main disciple Dromtönpa), who is offering words of praise while also asking: Wouldn’t it be better if you practiced the genuine dharma? 

This person decides to practice meditation as well. Yet, he receives the same questions and feels at a loss. “If none of these practices is considered dharma practice, then what is it?” The Kadampa master points out the answer by saying: “To cut through your attachments. That is the practice of Dharma.”

In his commentary, His Holiness the 17th Karmapa offers similar advice in the context of Ngöndro practice. He shares that he often hears people speak about the difficulty or ease of this practice, while others speak about certain special experiences. Meaningful as those may be, similar to the Kadampa master, His Holiness says: “The real sign of our practice should be how we work with our afflicting emotions.” 

Reflecting on these examples, it was pointed out during our session that any practice, including Korra, reading scriptures, recitation, and so forth, can all be a method to cut through our attachments and, more generally, work with our afflictions or mental disturbances. When we do so, each of these can become the genuine practice of the dharma. In addition, following His Holiness’s commentary, we need to go beyond separating our minds from dharma and bring these together. If we want to generate bodhicitta, for example, it can only arise in this moment, not in any other moment or somewhere else. It needs to arise in this mind right now, which is where bodhicitta can be present.

Making our Meditation Sessions and Sleep Matter: Two Pieces of Advices

In his commentary on the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, His Holiness refers to a Tibetan saying that can be understood as “bringing flesh and bone together,” meaning we should become one with our practice, in every aspect of our daily lives. In a teaching on the life of the Eighth Gyalwang Karmapa, Mikyö Dorje, he also emphasizes that genuine dharma practice consists of working with and changing our minds. Since our mind is with us 24/7, our practice is also 24/7. Not paying attention to our mind could, he taught, result in non-virtuous actions of body, speech, and mind. So, how do we practice throughout the day? To this end, His Holiness offered two practical pieces of advice. 

  • Before ending our formal meditation sessions, to prevent our practice from leaving us as swift as a finger snap or fading slowly , we could tell ourselves: “After I finish this session, throughout the rest of the day, I will try to retain the flavor of this experience and state of mind.” 
  • Before going to sleep, we can reflect on what our day was like. What did we do during the day? What was virtuous and what was not? “When we have separated one from the other, we can make a commitment that the next day we will try to increase positive actions and decrease negative ones.” If we can go to sleep in this way, His Holiness notes, “our sleep will not be useless or without purpose; it will turn into a positive state of mind, and thereby the power of what is virtuous will increase.” 

With these two practical pieces of advice from His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, we brought this session to a close and ended with dedicating the merit. In our next session, Acharya Lhakpa Tshering will continue his commentary and teachings on Ngulchu Tokmé’s text, resuming with the eighth verse.

Intermezzo: Following in The Footsteps of the First Karmapa

Our first session of the international New Year, 2025 was dedicated to commemorating the parinirvāṇa anniversary of the First Karmapa, Düsum Khyenpa. His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, shared a beautiful verse on Facebook, on January 3rd. While it is difficult, if not impossible, to capture the profoundness and beauty of His Holiness’s writing in Tibetan, we wrote an English translation for our session, which we read together:

“Water cascading from the ocean of all that can be known in the three times
Flowing into a single vessel of omniscience –
The great sage who takes in the whole universe of appearance and existence at once,
Glorious Jetsün Lama, today I fondly remember you.”

— Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje

Resting our Minds, Opening our Hearts

Since Acharya Lhakpa Tshering will not resume his teachings on The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva until January 19, we began our session by contemplating the verses covered so far, along with additional quotes from the sūtras and commentaries by His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa and His Eminence the 10th Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche. Before discussing those, we started with the usual practice of śamatha (calm-abiding). 

Reminding ourselves of the importance of our physical and mental posture, everyone present was encouraged to sit comfortably in an upright position—firmly grounded yet relaxed, not minding the past nor the future, resting in the present moment. Sitting with a sense of ease, everyone was invited to open their hearts and give rise to bodhicitta. Paying attention to the movement of our minds–what to do when there are a lot of thoughts and distraction or when we lose our mindfulness because of being sleepy–we practiced śamatha to let the mind settle. As Acharya Lhakpa usually says, simply be aware. 

The Thirty-Seven Practices: A Lamrim Text

In his introduction to A Guide to the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, Christopher Stagg writes about the format of Ngulchu Tokmé’s root text, which follows the lamrim, or stages of the path teachings. This means it stands within the long lineage of the Kadampa tradition, considered to be first taught by the great master Atīśa (c. 982–1054) who wrote the foundational text Bodhipathapradipa (In Tibetan: བྱང་ཆུབ་ལམ་གྱི་སྒྲོན་མ།), In English: Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment). 

Ngulchu Tokmé is a later commentator in this lineage, which traces back to Atīśa via the great Kadampa teachers Chekawa, Sharawa, Langri Thangpa, Potow, and Dromtönpa, Atīśa’s main disciple. Like Atīśa, Tokmé’s text follows a key aspect of the lamrim teachings: He categorizes the various practices progressively based on three types of beings’ or (humans’) ability–lesser, middling, and great. In verses 8, 9, and 10, he points to these, which Acharya Lhakpa will likely comment on in his upcoming teachings. 

It seems a somewhat auspicious coincidence to pause and contemplate verses 1 to 7. What we have covered so far can be taken as a collection of preliminary practices with one single wisdom intent: turning the mind away from saṁsāra and towards the Dharma. This ends with the verse about taking refuge–both outer and inner–as explained by Acharya Lhakpa during our previous session. 

Lojong: A Pithy Set of Verses for Everyone to Cultivate Bodhicitta

Ngulchu Tokmé also stands in the tradition of lojong. Christopher Stagg explains that this genre “concentrates specifically on the cultivation of relative and absolute bodhicitta, and on working practically and directly with one’s personal situation in everyday life.” 

To make the teachings workable for everyone, including those who have little time to study the many sūtras and commentaries, the text is composed in verse form and is only forty-three verses long. We can see this quality of the text already reflected in the first seven verses, which speak directly to our hearts. In his commentaries, Acharya Lhakpa further highlighted this by often relating the verses to our own lives and today’s world. Below is an overview of summaries of his teachings: 

The Meaning of the Instruction “Give Rise to Bodhicitta” 

With verse 10 pointing to the Mahayana path, the remainder of Ngulchu Tokmé’s text presents the practices for those with the third and highest kind of (human) ability. Here, cultivating bodhicitta is put at the very heart of each instruction. While Acharya Lhakpa will surely elaborate further on this in upcoming sessions, we briefly looked at a definition of the widely used term bodhicitta. 

In the great Kagyü master Gampopa’s Ornament of Precious Liberation, as translated by Ken Holmes and edited by Thupten Jinpa, bodhicitta is defined as follows: 

“The ‘thought of awakening,’ an altruistic resolve to attain buddhahood for the benefit of all beings.” 

Looking carefully at this definition, we can see that it is characterized by an object–the full awakening of buddhahood, and a purpose–the fulfillment of other’s welfare.

Furthermore, bodhicitta is typically divided into two parts, often translated as relative bodhicitta and ultimate bodhicitta. Whereas the first relates to the altruistic resolve, the second is about the direct realization of the emptiness of the fully awakened mind. 

What is called relative bodhicitta is again divided into two, described by Gampopa as follows: 

  • Aspiration bodhichitta: the wish to attain the genuine thought of awakening.
  • Engaged bodhicitta: the actual training in the thought of awakening. 

At the beginning of our practice, we are typically invited “to give rise to bodhicitta.” Knowing the above may help us to understand what that actually means, realizing that it is probably already a great sign of accomplishment if we genuinely feel the wish to attain the thought of awakening (aspiration bodhicitta). Acharya Lhakpa’s usual instruction is, therefore, illuminating and greatly supportive: “Give rise to positive thoughts, thinking ‘may this practice be a cause for all beings to attain enlightenment.’” 

Practice Brings Scriptures to Life

After delving a bit further into the background of the text and the thread of bodhicitta running through all verses, we had another look at the second opening verse: the purpose of the composition. 

In a commentary by the contemporary Kagyü master Sangye Nyenpa, only available in Tibetan and translated especially for Meditation for All, the meaning of “sources of benefit and happiness” is highlighted in connection with “depends on understanding their practices.” What does this mean? First, he posed the question: “How are the perfect buddhas the sources of benefit and happenings?” This is about the fact that the Buddha not only came to the world but that he also taught the genuine dharma, “without it, there would be no genuine dharma for us to practice to begin with.” 

So, we have the great fortune of a Buddha who came to our world and taught the dharma. However, that is not enough. Sangye Nyenpa somewhat playfully notes that we could stack many scriptures of the Buddha’s words together, yet, if we never study and contemplate them, forget about putting them into practice, that would be entirely pointless. 

On the other hand, if we engage with one single scripture, it could remove our mental afflictions and deal with the root of our confusion. “If we somehow separate the dharma from ourselves, putting one thing here and another there, so to speak, there is no benefit whatsoever.” Therefore, Ngulchu Tokmé points out the practices of the perfect buddhas so we can engage with those. 

I Have Given You the Lamp, but You Must Walk the Path

To further support the explanation given above, Sangye Nyenpa frequently quotes from the sūtras. During today’s session, we contemplated two phrases from the sūtras. Translated into English, the first reads as follows: 

“I have shown you the methods of liberation. Yet, know that freedom depends upon yourself.” 

Sangye Nyenpa comments that these two lines encompass all dharmas (in the sense of the  teachings of the Buddha). It illustrates that the Buddha taught what to reject–misdeeds,and what to adopt–virtue. He also taught how to attain freedom and traverse the five paths and ten bhumis. Yet, Sangye Nyenpa humorously comments: “The Buddha can’t just throw a stone in the air and then suddenly everyone is liberated.” Liberation, he says, depends on us. For that, we need to practice.

The second line from the sūtras says:  

“You are your own protector; you are also your own enemy.”

This is closely related to something Acharya Lhakpa also explained during one of our previous sessions. We may think of others as our protector or enemy. We may think that the hell realms, and so forth, are somewhere out there. We may think other forces lead us to fall into darkness and misery. However, as these words of the Buddha indicate, it is not like that. When we are very angry, our resident teacher noted, “hell is right there.” In this way, we are our own enemy.

This also means that if we engage in studying, contemplating, and meditating, as the very first practice of a bodhisattva, and work through the three higher trainings, then we can attain liberation and Buddhahood. In that sense, we are our own protector. 

In concluding today’s session, we summarized Sangye Nyenpa’s commentary by saying that we must know the practice and put it into action ourselves, otherwise we will not be able to accomplish the genuine Dharma. Reflecting on direct words of the Buddha and connecting them with Atīśa’s teaching, we can say that, like Ngulchu Tokmé with our text, they have given us the lamp, but we need to walk the path. 
Noting that we will do a contemplative meditation and look at commentary from His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, during our next session, we ended today’s Meditation for All with the dedication of merit: May we follow in the footsteps of the First Karmapa, and all attain the state of omniscient Buddhahood.

Embracing Impermanence – 37 Practices – Session 4

Reminding us of the importance of the posture of our body – to sit straight yet relaxed – and the posture of mind – simply being aware – our resident teacher, Acharya Lhakpa, began the practice of śamatha, or calm-abiding meditation, for those who were present onsite and also online. Following our practice together, Acharya addressed questions that participants kindly had submitted about our previous sessions. 

Knowing our capacity

In our last session, Acharya Lhakpa taught about the fragility of our compassionate heart at the beginning of our journey, likening it to a sprout. The first question spoke to this topic by asking what to do when we are exposed to a harmful environment. 

While bodhicitta means having the aspiration to become fully awakened for the purpose of liberating all sentient beings, merely having the thought of benefiting others is not sufficient. Acharya pointed out that we also need the capacity to skillfully act on that intention, otherwise we risk the possibility of causing harm. He illustrated this with the example of medical professionals who are trained to help someone who sustained broken arms and legs in a car accident. The medics are those who can really help in that situation. 

Bodhisattvas who have achieved one of the ten bodhisattva levels are the ones who can turn a harmful environment into something beneficial for everyone. They may even give their eyes and parts of their bodies away, if that is of benefit. As ordinary people, until we are further along the path, our focus should be on giving rise to bodhicitta and ensuring it does not lessen but rather increase. As beginners, if we see that engaging with or staying in a harmful situation is not beneficial, then it is better to keep some distance, while praying that we can change things for the better in the future. That, in itself, can be considered courageous.

Daily recitations

The second question asked about the way to integrate the 37 verses into formal practice and daily life. Acharya Lhakpa said that if we could recite these verses daily, slowly and while considering the meaning of the verse, that would be of great benefit. 

He offered the suggestion to take one verse every week, using the first verse as an example: What is the meaning of that verse? How is that verse true? What are the reasons for our human lives being precious and what are the methods to make it meaningful? Reflecting on the verse in this way, no doubt, will be beneficial. 

Connecting our understanding of these verses with the meaning of the dharma, Acharya emphasized that the teachings of the Buddha, like the instructions from the Mahāmudrā tradition, are all about taming and training our mind. Without worrying about how others are practicing, we should instead focus on our own mind and the cultivation of bodhicitta, for those are at the heart of the verses and instructions.

Letting go of the three spheres

The third and final question posed to our resident teacher asked about the challenge of understanding how to be compassionate and full of loving-kindness without becoming attached. In his response, Acharya indicated that it is indeed far from easy to have loving-kindness and compassion without attachment, at the beginning. “No matter how much we try not to have attachment,” he said, “there is always some level of attachment involved.” 

So, what is the method to develop attachment-free loving-kindness and compassion? In the tradition of the Mahāyāna, the method to cultivate this is to begin extending loving-kindness and compassion to those close to us: our mother, family, friends, and relatives. Slowly we can strengthen and expand our loving-kindness and compassion so that it includes those we don’t like or consider enemies and beings we don’t know at all. In this way, we can slowly move towards loving-kindness and compassion without attachment. 

Furthermore, Acharya Lhakpa pointed out that on the Mahāyāna path, our practice always needs to include the skilfull method of loving-kindness and compassion together with wisdom. “If the method is without wisdom,” he said, “then it actually becomes the base or ground for suffering.” 

The wisdom taught in the Mahāyāna is that of loving-kindness and compassion free from the three spheres. With all our actions, we typically think in terms of the object of the action, the agent, and the act itself — these three spheres, however, are what we need to relinquish. Bringing method and wisdom together in this way will eventually help us accomplish attachment-free compassion. 

Heart of awakening, breath of compassion

By way of making a bridge between the questions and the next verse, Acharya made a general comment about the 37 practices of a bodhisattva—that they are all a guide for us to give rise to bodhicitta, or the heart of awakening. This quality found within us needs to be activated and expanded, not just for our own benefit but for all sentient beings. Once we activate this heart of awakening, we must keep it alive. 

For example, he said, when a heart is shocked and requires revival, it needs to start beating again. Similarly, after activating bodhicitta, we must sustain it with the breath of compassion. Just as breathing supports a heartbeat, our continuous practice of compassion sustains our bodhicitta. 

Redirecting our minds

Acharya pointed out that to activate and sustain bodhicitta we must understand that “we need to mobilize the strength of our mind in the right direction and direct our thoughts toward wholesome and meaningful actions.” The mind serves as the key support for this process.”Without it,” he said, “there is no other avenue to give rise to bodhicitta.” This shows the immense capacity for our mind to cultivate bodhicitta, and the potential to benefit ourselves and others. 

However, Acharya continued, our worldly habitual patterns distract us from accomplishing this purpose. We often fall under the influence of kleśas, especially the three poisons—desire, aversion, and ignorance—which form the foundation for all other mental disturbances. As a result, our minds become habituated to instant gratification instead of seeking full awakening to liberate ourselves and all sentient beings. A main point of studying Ngulchu Tokmé’s The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva is to tame and train our minds so that we can overcome these tendencies and redirect ourselves toward the heroic path of compassion.

Following the Q&A, we turned our attention to the fourth verse, which emphasizes impermanence. 

Seeing and accepting impermanence as change

The fourth verse reads as follows: 

“We will part from every loved one we have long associated with. 
We will leave behind the wealth we have so diligently amassed.
Our consciousness, the guest, will cast away this body, the guest house. 
To let go of this life is the practice of a bodhisattva.” (4)
– from: A Guide to the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, translated by Christopher Stagg)

The verse itself, Acharya Lhakpa noted, is very clear and not difficult to understand. The most challenging part is how to bring it into practice. How to internalize this verse?

When we hear about impermanence, we often feel a bit depressed. However, Acharya commented that it is just change taking place from moment to moment. “Understanding impermanence is to accept the change happening around us,” he said. Gampopa extensively discusses this in Ornament of Precious Liberation, where he outlines four kinds of impermanence:

  1. Overall Impermanence: This refers to the universe and planets, which contemporary science confirms they are constantly moving and changing.
  2. Subtle Impermanence: The constant changes in seasons and other natural cycles.
  3. Outer Impermanence: The impermanence of others, such as our relatives and friends.
  4. Inner Impermanence: This concerns our own personal impermanence and is about looking within ourselves. 

While it may feel challenging to reflect deeply on this, the main practice taught in this fourth verse is to see and embrace the truth of impermanence. 

Why hold onto things that fall apart?

The four lines in this verse teach about impermanence, which is directly related to death. They show how all phenomena of samsara are compounded and, at some point, will fall apart. No matter how strong our connections and attachments are, there will come a day when we will be separated from everything we hold onto. This is true for our family, relatives, and friends; this is true for our possessions; and this is also true for that which is closest to us—our own body.

If this is so, does “letting go of this life,” identified in the fourth line as the practice of a bodhisattva, mean we must abandon everyone and everything worldly or neglect our bodies? Acharya commented, “That is not the point here. The true meaning of ‘letting go of this life’ is to understand that all phenomena—people, things, and our own bodies—will eventually fall apart. Realizing this allows us to let go mentally while still engaging fully with the world in a meaningful way. If we have this understanding, then all is fine.”

Concluding words of advice

To conclude, Acharya Lhakpa shared that these verses can be difficult to comprehend at first. Therefore, it is important to read and contemplate them. If, for example, we contemplate and connect with the deeper meaning of this fourth verse, then it will help us let go of this life as being permanent and to embrace change, which will be of benefit to us and to others. “So, please read this verse,” he said, “be your own teacher, and practice.”